Got to see the Okna products - we preferred the 500 series over the 800. Really nice window and got a terrific price quote.

Meanwhile, my brother, who lives about 45 min from me, just started looking at new windows. Apparently he is planning on full tear-out due to much rotted wood. He's in construction - concrete, actually, so he's got buddies telling him about their faves. One guy loves a local company called ClassicWindows. Another prefers Andersen wood windows. He's getting a quote for Simonton (I have no clue which one). Says I can just give my dimensions and get a ballpark quote (I noted one of the pros here has an internet quote which I find to be very useful).

But I'm thinking, I'm AlmostDone, and I don't want anymore options. At the same time, the process is like an addiction. Wanting a slim profile, I find the Simonton Asure online and it seems pretty interesting - as a budget alternative. And while I'm really curious just how low of a price that window might be, and am curious as to the look of it in person, I don't fully succumb and don''t get another quote, but have finally made a decision.

We chose the Sunrise. We love the look and are getting a sliding door, too. The store also has some great entry doors and we picked out two that are on display in his shop. All in all, a little pricier than we wanted, but it was nice to have several good options. The other home projects will just have to wait as we spent it all on the windows and doors

I also have 4 wooden sliding windows in a three season porch, which is used more as a mudroom. We're getting the nice Sunrise sliding door because we use that entrance quite a bit.

I hadn't planned on replacing those 4 sliding windows, but they do need some work. Rather than getting nice new windows, one of the earlier contractors had suggested replacing them with a ProVia sliding storm window - as each window would be less than $200 installed. I don't ever envision that 3 season porch having a heating/cooling source.

Provia makes a nice storm unit, and if your intent is just to cleanup the appearance, then go for it. OTOH, if you elected to use actual windows, it would be easier in the future if you or a future owner did decide that you'd like to heat/cool the space.

I now realize I didn't give my update. I had planned on going with the Sunrise, but ultimately chose the Okna. I hope to have them all installed next week. I also decided to just do an Okna vinyl slider in the 3 season back porch, though I appreciated the other idea of the ProVia in order to save some money. That just means I'll ultimately want to spend more on upgrading the back porch in the future

So the windows and sliding door are in for a while now. The installation crew was great and helped overcome a few issues, as well as doing a few extras.

I won't describe this correctly, but before we started, I completely cleared out a small sunroom. We bought the house (built in 1926) last Fall and we knew we needed to improve that room (painted paneling walls). I also knew the room wasn't perfectly square, but after taking everything out and focusing on the upcoming window installation, I knew we faced a bigger problem. The bottom of a set of three windows leaned inward to the stool, and then the wall moved back outward on its wal down to the floor. Almost like a bulge. On the outside of the house, there was a concrete wall from the ground to the base of the windows, and it looked just fine - as did the basement below. But the outside wall (vinyl sided) from the bottom of the window to the top of the first floor (it's two story house) was like 85 degrees or something.

So, we could have put the windows in essentially square to the ceiling/floor, but not to the wall itself, and then trimmed the windows (for simplicity, imagine the trim at the top of the window being 1" and then by the time you got to the bottom of the window, it would have become 3").

Instead, we took the panelling off and then the plaster wall behind it - down to the lath boards. We started with the part below the windows and ultimately the whole front wall. When going to take out the old windows, the crew noticed the windows weren't nailed in (save for maybe one top corner). Thing is, these sure seemed like original windows (weight cavities) which matched the rest of the house.

Anyway, while I still have to redo the walls, which I planned on doing anyway, everything looks square now, and there is insulation around the front three windows (when we took off the paneling/plaster, you could see outside from around the window frame).

One more comment - about the sliding door. We wanted internal blinds (kids/dogs) and this is on the 3 season room (in which I decided to do the Okna sliders instead of sliding storms). I didn't want to spend too much money on that room, so we opted for the much cheaper Okna door over the Sunrise. I have to admit, comparing my Okna from the Sunrise in the showroom, that Sunrise rocks. But the Okna door does just what we want and was the right door for what we wanted to spend there. Maybe I splurged a little on the windows in that room, but overall I'm pretty happy.

The windows in the house, too, do look nice, and once we paint the inside- especially with a brighter white trim (currently the walls and trim are painted the same drab off-white color), the windows will look even better.

1) Congrats once again on some great choices and a quality install.2) I would have to second WoW's comment. The Okna door is indeed second to none. Fully welded frame and performance numbers that are literally unequaled by any other unit. The Sunrise door is a very nice piece, but you did not "settle" here by any means. The Okna product has somewhat of a "firm" feel in its operation, however there is no way around that when dealing with a product that is built to very tight manufacturing tolerances and and possesses a tremendous amount of weatherstripping..Ultimately. either choice would have served you VERY well as they are probably the top 2 choices available.

Your project is a great example of the value of doing enough research.Yep you kissed a couple of frogs along the way but you found the prince.Glad to know that Okna and Dave( and crew) took such good care of you.

Perhaps it's just comparing against ideal showroom conditions, but the Sunrise seemed much easier to slide - or maybe the new Okna will "smooth" out over time.

Some dry film Teflon on the rails and where the weatherstripping engages the capture frame tends to help out a bit. Most of the operational difficulty is as a result of the weight and aggressive weatherstripping profile.

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